The golden armor gleamed in Metropolis's night as Clark dove through another barrage of tri-colored energy, each blast carrying enough power to level city blocks. His suit's systems screamed warnings at him—the radiation exposure was pushing even Kryptonian technology beyond its limits. But he couldn't stop, couldn't let Metallo's attention drift back to the civilians they were still evacuating.
"Target moving towards downtown!" Captain Hal Jordan's voice crackled through tactical frequencies as his F-35 screamed past, laying down covering fire that sparked uselessly off Metallo's chrome frame. "None of our ordinance is even scratching him!"
"Keep pushing him toward the outskirts!" Sam Lane ordered through command channels, his voice carrying the particular strain of a father watching his daughter in danger. "We need him away from populated areas!"
The jets from McConnell Air Force Base did their best, missiles and bullets creating a deadly dance of metal and fire around the combatants. But Metallo ignored them completely, his focus locked on Superman with terrifying intensity. The cores in his chest pulsed with sickly light that seemed to corrupt the very air around him.
"Still playing the hero." Metallo's voice carried new harmonics as his systems continued to degrade, synthetic skin peeling away in sheets to reveal chrome underneath. "Even with your cells burning. Even with every movement bringing pain."
His blast caught Clark square in the chest, sending him crashing through the MetLife building's upper floors. The armor absorbed most of the impact, but Clark could feel the wrongness spreading through his body—the radiation was doing something to him on a cellular level, changing him in ways even the suit couldn't fully counter.
"I've got a shot!" Jordan called out, his voice carrying the particular focus that made him the Air Force's best test pilot. "Fox Three!"
The air-to-air missile streaked in from above, its specialized warhead designed specifically for this fight. But Metallo caught it casually, studying the projectile with almost scientific curiosity before crushing it in chrome fingers.
"Primitive weapons." His laugh carried pure machine malice. "Is this really the best humanity can offer? Toys that spark against my skin while their champions bleed?"
Clark erupted from the building's remains, moving faster than human eyes could track. His fist connected with Metallo's jaw hard enough to create a sonic boom, actually staggering the cyborg. But proximity to those cores sent fresh waves of agony through his body, the kryptonite radiation trying to unmake him at a molecular level.
The Batwing dove through the chaos, Bruce's voice carrying cold precision: "His right shoulder—the joint's compromised from previous damage. Hit it while—"
Static suddenly filled the channel, then a new voice cut through: "Actually, the left knee's hydraulics are showing more stress. The neural feedback's creating a weakness in the support struts."
"Who the hell—" Bruce started, then his eyes narrowed behind his cowl. "Stark. Get out of my systems."
"Would love to chat about digital boundaries, but we got bigger problems." Tony's voice carried the particular focus Bruce recognized from Gulmira. "The kryptonite variants are interacting in ways they shouldn't. Creating some kind of amplification effect that—"
Another explosion cut him off as Metallo unleashed a blast that turned three blocks into a crater. Clark managed to catch most of the debris before it could crush fleeing civilians, but each movement sent fresh waves of pain through his radiation-ravaged body.
"Fall back!" Sam Lane ordered as his pilots' weapons continued proving useless. "All air units maintain perimeter control only. We're just giving him more targets!"
The pilots pulled back reluctantly, forming a defensive ring around the combat zone. Jordan's F-35 banked sharply, his experienced eye tracking the battle below. Through his canopy, he could see the golden armor's light beginning to flicker as Superman took another devastating hit.
Clark struck again, each movement precise despite the agony coursing through him. The armor channeled what solar energy it could, golden light racing along its seams as he drove Metallo toward the Kansas plains. But the cyborg matched him blow for blow, his chrome frame beginning to actually glow from the power building inside him.
"The kryptonite," Tony reported through the hijacked channel, his fingers flying across keyboards as he analyzed readings. "The interaction between variants is creating some kind of feedback loop, amplifying each other's effects exponentially."
Clark tried to press their advantage, but Metallo recovered faster than should have been possible. Chrome fingers closed around his throat, radiation pouring off the cyborg in waves that made Clark's vision blur.
"I can feel it," Metallo's voice carried almost euphoria beneath the mechanical distortion. "The power... it burns so bright! Like stars being born inside me!" His grip tightened as Clark struggled. "Can you feel it too, alien? The way it changes everything it touches?"
The blast he unleashed at point-blank range sent them both through a grain silo before they crashed into Kansas wheat fields. The impact carved a trench half a mile long, golden armor leaving trails of light as Clark fought to regain control.
"All units hold position!" Sam Lane's voice carried barely controlled fear as he watched his daughter recording everything from behind police barriers. "The radiation levels are climbing beyond anything we've seen. If those cores go critical..."
The earth erupted as Metallo burst from the crater, his chrome frame actually glowing from internal heat. Panels had begun to melt across his chest, revealing glimpses of the three cores spinning at impossible speeds. The light they cast seemed wrong somehow, like the laws of physics themselves were being rewritten by whatever was happening inside him.
"Sir," Jordan reported, his usual confidence shaken, "these energy readings... they're off the charts. Whatever that thing is, it's building toward something big."
Clark shot from the ground like a golden bullet, armor leaving trails of light as it processed the increasing radiation. But Metallo met him halfway, their impact creating shockwaves that flattened wheat for miles. They traded blows at speeds that turned the air to plasma, each hit carrying enough force to reshape mountains.
"Why do you keep fighting?" Metallo's voice carried genuine curiosity as they spiraled through Metropolis's canyons of steel and glass. "Your cells are burning. Your power fading. Even that pretty suit can't protect you forever."
"Because people will die if I don't." Clark's response was simple but carried steel beneath the surface. The armor hummed as it tried to channel more solar energy, golden light racing along its seams. "Because that's what being human means—protecting others, even when it hurts."
"Human?" The laugh that emerged sounded like reality tearing. "You're not human. You're a thing pretending to be human. Playing at their games while real people suffer and die!"
Bruce's voice cut through their exchange: "Clark, your armor's integrity is failing. The radiation exposure is—"
Static consumed the rest as Tony broke in: "The cores are creating some kind of feedback loop. If we don't get him away from populated areas..."
"I know." Bruce's response was clipped as he dodged another wild blast. Through his cowl's sensors, he could see the radiation patterns shifting into configurations that shouldn't exist. "But we can't contain him. Every time we try—"
An explosion cut him off as Metallo sent Superman crashing through another building. The golden armor Clark wore was beginning to crack, its surface dulled from constant radiation exposure. But it was still channeling solar energy, still helping him fight despite damage that should have been fatal.
"The sun." Tony's words carried the particular tone Bruce recognized from their collaboration in Gulmira—the sound of a mind racing ahead to solutions others hadn't considered. "The armor's solar absorption... what if we could overload it? Give him more power than even those cores can handle?"
Bruce watched Clark emerge from the wreckage, golden light racing along the armor's seams as it tried to compensate for fresh damage. "You're talking about space. Getting him past the atmosphere, into direct solar exposure."
"Exactly. No interference, no atmospheric filtering—just pure stellar radiation." Tony's fingers flew across keyboards, calculations filling his screens. "The suit's matrices are already at maximum capacity. Add unfiltered solar energy..."
"It would trigger a cascade reaction." Bruce's mind raced through implications. "The cores wouldn't be able to contain that much power."
"Better up there than down here." Tony's voice hardened. "Because if those cores go critical anywhere near population..."
Another blast lit up the night as Metallo unleashed more power, his frame beginning to actually glow from internal heat. The radiation pouring off him had taken on new properties—Bruce's sensors couldn't even categorize the energy patterns anymore.
"Clark." Bruce switched to their private channel. "The cores are destabilizing. Stark thinks—"
"I heard." Superman's voice carried quiet certainty as he pushed himself up from the crater. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes remained steady. "The armor can sense it too. The power buildup... it's beyond anything we've seen."
Metallo's laugh echoed across the battlefield, the sound more static than speech now. His chrome frame had begun to actually melt in places, synthetic skin long since burned away. The three cores in his chest spun faster, their light taking on colors that hurt to look at.
"The mighty Superman," he called, radiation making the air ripple around him. "Still trying to save everyone. Still pretending to be human." His mechanical features twisted in what might have been meant as a smile. "But I can feel it. The way the power burns. The way it changes everything it touches."
Superman met Batman's eyes through the Batwing's canopy. Though they'd only fought together once in Gulmira, there was something there - an understanding born from seeing someone willing to risk everything to protect others. His voice shook slightly as he activated their private channel. "Batman..."
"No." The word came out harsher than intended. "There has to be another way."
"You know there isn't." Superman's smile didn't quite hide his fear. The armor's surface was already starting to bubble and warp from the radiation. "The containment field is failing. If those cores go critical here..."
"Superman—"
"I need to ask something of you." The words carried both terror and determination. "In Smallville - the Kents. And here in Metropolis - Lois Lane. They..." His voice caught for a moment. "They're important to me. Keep them safe. Please."
Batman's hands tightened on the controls, understanding the magnitude of what Superman was entrusting to him - not just names, but the people he loved most. "You're talking about a suicide run."
"I'm talking about being what they need me to be." Superman's eyes found Lois behind the police barriers, memorizing her face through what might be his last moments. "You came to help when I was healing, fought beside me without hesitation. That's why I'm trusting you with this."
"The explosion will kill you." Batman's voice carried the weight of someone who'd seen too many good people die. "Even with that armor..."
"Better me than everyone in Metropolis." Superman's voice trembled slightly, but his resolve held firm. "We both know what it means to make the hard choice. To do what's necessary, no matter the cost."
Before Batman could respond, Metallo unleashed another devastating blast. Superman took it directly, the armor's golden surface actually bubbling from the heat. But he held his ground, forcing himself forward step by step as the radiation tried to tear him apart.
"Still fighting?" Metallo's voice carried genuine curiosity beneath the mechanical distortion. "Even now, when your cells are burning? When every movement brings pain?"
"Always." Clark's response was simple but carried steel beneath the surface. The armor hummed as it gathered remaining power, House of El symbol pulsing with gathered strength. "Because that's what being human means. Never giving up, even when it hurts."
"Human?" The laugh that emerged sounded like grinding gears. "You're not human. You're a creature playing at humanity. Hiding behind glasses and press badges while real people suffer."
Clark's movement was faster than even Bruce's enhanced sensors could track. One moment he was standing in the crater, the next his arms were locked around Metallo's frame. The cyborg thrashed with desperate violence, chrome fists hammering against Clark's armor as they began to rise.
"No!" Metallo's mechanical voice carried pure denial. "You can't stop me! I'm stronger now! I'm better!" His chest cores pulsed brighter, pouring out waves of radiation that made Clark's vision blur. "I'm not done yet! I haven't finished making them pay!"
But Clark held on, pushing them higher despite how each moment of contact sent fresh agony through his radiation-ravaged body. The golden armor strained to process the power pouring off Metallo's frame, its surface already beginning to bubble and warp.
"This isn't happening!" Metallo's struggles grew more frantic as they passed through the first layer of clouds. "I can't be beaten! I'm not weak anymore! I'm not that broken soldier they threw away!" His voice cracked with static interference. "I won't go back to being nothing!"
"You were never nothing, John." Clark's voice remained gentle despite the pain evident in it. "You were a hero. A soldier who saved lives. A father who loved his daughter more than anything."
The mention of Amy seemed to trigger something in Metallo. His denial transformed into pure rage, his frame actually glowing as he poured more power into his attacks. "Shut up! You don't get to talk about her! You weren't there! None of you were there when I needed help!"
They burst through another cloud layer, the city becoming distant points of light below. Metallo's voice carried raw fury that had nothing to do with his mechanical nature: "Where were you when I was lying in that hospital? When I couldn't even hold my little girl because my hands wouldn't stop shaking? When Sarah had to explain to Amy why Daddy jumped at loud noises?"
Each word was punctuated by another blow, but Clark absorbed them all, maintaining their upward trajectory. "I'm sorry, John. You're right - we should have been there. The system failed you. I failed you."
"Don't pretend you care!" Metallo's rage began mixing with desperation as the air grew thinner. "You're not human! You don't know what it's like to be broken! To need help and have everyone look away!" His struggles took on a new edge - not just anger now, but bargaining. "Let me go! I'll stop fighting! I'll leave Metropolis! Just give me another chance!"
"It's too late," Clark said softly. "The cores are destabilizing. You can feel it, can't you? The power building inside you?"
They passed through the last wisps of cloud cover, revealing a tapestry of stars above. Something changed in Metallo's voice - the rage draining away into something closer to fear. "No... no, I can't die like this. Not yet. I haven't made things right." His chrome fingers clutched at Clark's armor. "Amy... oh God, what have I done to her? What kind of father am I?"
"A father who loved her," Clark assured him, even as warnings flashed across his HUD about critical radiation exposure. "Who wanted to be whole for her. Who got lost trying to be the hero she deserved."
Metallo's struggles weakened as depression took hold. "I killed Sarah... I killed my little girl's mother. How could I... what kind of monster..." Static crackled through his words. "I don't want to die. Not like this. Not with so much left unfixed."
They passed into the upper atmosphere, the curve of Earth becoming visible below. Metallo's systems were beginning to fail, his frame shuddering as internal temperature climbed beyond sustainable levels. But his voice carried new clarity as the stars spread out around them.
"I used to pray," he admitted quietly, mechanical distortion fading. "Every night in the hospital. Begged God to make me whole again. To let me be the father Amy needed." His head turned slightly, taking in the infinite expanse. "But the pain... it made me forget. Made me angry. Made me stop believing in anything but power."
"It's not too late to believe," Clark said gently, holding him steady as they entered the void of space. "To find peace. To do one last good thing."
Metallo was quiet for a long moment, watching their planet grow smaller below. When he spoke again, his voice carried a vulnerability that had nothing to do with failing systems. "Do you think... do you think He'll forgive me? For what I've done? For the lives I've taken?"
"I believe in mercy," Clark replied, feeling the cores' energy building toward critical mass. "In redemption. In the chance to make the right choice, even at the end."
"The end..." Metallo's laugh held no malice now, just tired acceptance. His chrome features softened as memories began washing over him - not just the anger and pain, but moments he'd thought lost forever. "I remember... the morning Amy was born. Sarah was in labor for eighteen hours. I was so scared, but trying to be strong for her."
His voice grew distant, lost in the memory. "The doctors kept saying everything was fine, but I'd seen too many things go wrong in combat. Kept expecting the worst." A ghost of a smile touched his mechanical features. "Then I heard Amy cry for the first time. This tiny, perfect sound that made everything else disappear."
"Tell me about her," Clark encouraged gently, maintaining his hold even as he felt the radiation reach critical radiation levels. If these were John's final moments, he deserved someone to hear his story.
"She had these tiny fingers... wrapped one around my thumb and just held on." Static crackled through Metallo's voice, but the emotion was pure human. "I was terrified of dropping her. Me, a trained soldier, scared of this little bundle that barely weighed anything." The cores pulsed brighter as his systems continued to deteriorate. "Will it hurt? When the time comes?"
"No," Clark lied softly, the kind lie you tell someone facing their end. "It'll be quick. Like falling asleep."
They floated in the star-filled void, Earth a beautiful blue jewel below them. Metallo's frame trembled as more memories surfaced, his life playing out against the backdrop of infinity.
"Her first steps..." His voice carried wonder now. "She kept falling, but wouldn't stop trying. Just like her first bike ride - skinned knees and all, but so determined." His chrome fingers flexed unconsciously. "I caught her every time she fell. Promised nothing would ever hurt her." Pain crept back in. "Now I've made her watch her daddy become this... this thing. Made her see me kill her mother..."
"You lost your way," Clark said softly, feeling the radiation tear through his own systems. "But you found it again. Here, at the end."
"The end..." Metallo's gaze swept across the star field, taking in the pure beauty of unfiltered space. "You know what I see now? Every Sunday at church with my family. Amy in her little dresses, trying so hard to sit still during the sermon." His voice caught. "I stopped believing after Kandahar. Thought God had abandoned me. But now..."
He gestured weakly at the infinite expanse around them. "Look at it all. The stars, the Earth below... how did I forget something so beautiful existed?" The cores' light took on new patterns as his systems began final cascade. "Do you think there's forgiveness? Even for someone like me?"
"I have to believe there is," Clark replied, his own voice rough with pain and emotion. "That no one is beyond redemption if they truly seek it."
"I can see it all so clearly now," Metallo said quietly. "Every choice, every wrong turn. The moment I let the pain win." His focus remained on that distant point of light where his daughter waited. "But I also see the good parts. Amy's first day of school. Teaching her to ride that bike. The way she'd crawl into my lap after nightmares, trusting her daddy to keep the monsters away."
His frame shuddered as power built toward critical mass. "Tell her... tell Amy..."
"I will," Clark promised, holding him steady as the end approached. "I'll make sure she knows."
"Tell her Daddy loves her more than anything in this world or the next." The words tumbled out, forced through failing vocals. "That I'm sorry for everything I put her through. That I hope... I pray she can forgive me someday." Static consumed his voice before he pushed through. "Tell her I'll watch over her from Heaven... if they let someone like me in..."
"She'll know you saved her in the end," Clark assured him gently. "That when it mattered most, you chose to protect her, just like you always did."
The energy in Metallo's chest reached impossible levels, his frame trembling as the cores spun faster. Warning indicators flashed across Clark's vision as the radiation climbed beyond anything his armor could measure. But none of that seemed to matter anymore. Not here, suspended between stars, as two men faced what they believed would be their final moments.
"I used to dream about this," John said softly, his voice barely a whisper. "When I was a kid in Kansas, laying in wheat fields and staring up at the night sky. Wondering what it would be like to touch the stars." His chrome features shifted in what might have been a smile. "Never thought it would happen like this."
"Kansas?" Clark couldn't help but ask, even as he felt the power building toward critical mass. "I grew up there too. Spent a lot of nights watching these same stars."
"Funny how life works out." The mechanical distortion was almost gone from John's voice now, leaving just the man beneath. "Two Kansas boys meeting up here at the end." His gaze drifted down to Earth, that perfect blue marble suspended in black. "You can see everything from up here. All the lights of all the cities. Somewhere down there, my little girl is watching..."
The cores pulsed brighter, energy arcing between them in patterns that defied physics. Clark could feel the radiation eating through his armor, but he maintained his gentle hold. "I'll make sure she knows you found peace. That her father became a hero again."
"A hero..." John's laugh was soft, almost peaceful. "Haven't felt like one in so long. But up here..." He gestured weakly at the infinite expanse around them. "Everything looks different. All that anger, all that pain... it seems so small now."
The power building in his chest cast rainbow aureoles around the stars, making space itself seem to shimmer. Clark's armor was beginning to melt more, but he couldn't look away from the terrible beauty of it all.
"It's so beautiful..." John's words came out pure human, all trace of the machine burned away as he stared into eternity. "The stars... like God's own light. I never knew... never understood..." His voice filled with quiet wonder. "Maybe this is what forgiveness feels like."
"I see it too," Clark said softly, feeling the cores reaching critical. "The beauty of it all. Makes you realize how precious every moment is."
"Even this one?" John asked, and there was something like peace in his voice.
"Especially this one." Clark tightened his hold slightly, offering what comfort he could. "Two men from Kansas, finding peace among the stars."
The energy reached impossible levels, John's frame shuddering as systems began final cascade. But his focus remained fixed on Earth - on that one precious point where his daughter would grow up without him. In these last moments, John Corbin found something he'd thought forever lost - not just faith, but understanding of a greater purpose.
"Thank you," he whispered, the words barely audible over the building power. "For letting me see this. For helping me remember who I was."
"Goodbye, John," Clark said gently, feeling the cores begin their final surge. "Find your peace."
"See you among the stars, Superman."
The explosion erupted like a newborn sun, three kinds of radiation combining into something that rivaled supernovas. Clark's armor took the worst of it, its golden surface not just melting but actually vaporizing as it tried to contain power that could reshape continents.
The blast sent him tumbling back toward Earth, systems failing as gravitational forces took hold. The suit's integrity was completely compromised, its solar absorption matrices destroyed by the very power they'd tried to contain. Warning indicators cascaded across his vision as the atmosphere began to heat his armor's remains to plasma temperatures.
His last thought before consciousness fled was of Lois—her face when he'd first told her everything, the way she'd looked at him like he was still worth loving even after learning the truth. Then darkness took him, Earth's curved horizon blurring into nothingness as he fell.